The New York City mayoral race is not one that typically receives extensive coverage in international media. The respective Democratic nominee in each election has been getting around 70 per cent of the vote since Bill de Blasio’s win in 2013, and so there is not a lot of suspense about the outcome. Also, despite being the US’s most populous city with around 8.25 million people, mayoral races do not get as much attention as gubernatorial, Congressional, and, evidently, Presidential elections get in the US.
However, this seems to be changing a bit this time.
Rank-choice counting has not even finished in the primary, and the actual election is not until 4 November 2025, yet people both on social media and in traditional media are already extensively talking about the potential next mayor of New York City. That is because the individual who will most likely be the Democratic Party’s nominee, and thus will most likely be the eventual winner as well, is New York State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani.
Who Is Zohran Mamdani?
He is a Ugandan immigrant, Muslim, only 33 years old—and a radical socialist.
Mamdani has publicly come out in favour of ideas that would repel the average voter in the United States, outside the liberal hub of New York City. Here are some of the takes he has posted on social media, compiled by other X users upon news of his surprise victory.
He has supported defunding the police during the George Floyd riots in the summer of 2020. What’s more, at the time, he wrote on Twitter ‘Queer liberation means defund the police,’ which would be hard to interpret even for an average liberal voter.
He has also come out in favour of decriminalizing prostitution, safe injection sites for drug users, and ending all cooperation with the ‘fascist’ federal immigration enforcement agency, ICE.
Mamdani faced off against Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic NYC mayoral primary. Cuomo enjoyed the backing of the party establishment and the donor class, while Mamdani got the endorsement of self-described socialist Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. However, what really hurt Cuomo’s case is that in 2021, he was forced to resign as Governor due to a sexual harassment scandal. He was still viewed as the favourite to get the nomination by pollsters and pundits before the vote.
Incumbent NYC Mayor Eric Adams has already announced that he will be running as an independent. He had broken away from the Democratic Party before the primary, after federal prosecutors came after him for fraud and bribery charges in September 2024. As a result, he became quite friendly with President Trump, whom he sees as a fellow victim of political prosecution. Mayor Adams has even aided President Trump’s deportation efforts in New York City; and the DOJ dropped all charges against him in February 2025.
‘People on the Republican side have already found a silver lining: this will most likely damage the Democratic Party’s image on the national level’
However, all this also makes it less likely that former Democrat Adams can siphon enough voters away from his old party’s base to throw the mayorship to the Republican nominee, Curtis Sliwa.
Thus, in the most probable scenario, there will be a radical socialist heading the municipal government of the United States’ largest city next year. People on the Republican side have already found a silver lining: this will most likely damage the Democratic Party’s image on the national level.
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